FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For More Information Contact: March 18, 2008 Brooks Addicott, Sundance Institute 435.776.7857 or [email protected]

Amy McGee, Sundance Institute 310.360-1981 or [email protected]

Molly Gross, BAM 718.636.4129, ext. 3 or [email protected]

SUNDANCE INSTITUTE AT BAM OPENS ON MAY 29 WITH THE NEW YORK PREMIERE OF AMERICAN TEEN

Series Featuring Dramatic, Documentary and Short Films from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and Highlights from Groundbreaking Film, Theatre and Music Developed at Sundance Institute Labs Runs May 29 through June 8

LOS ANGELES, CA and BROOKLYN, NY -- Sundance Institute and Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) today announced AMERICAN TEEN, written and directed by Nanette Burstein, has been selected as the Opening Night Film for the third annual Sundance Institute at BAM . An audience favorite and winner of the Festival's Documentary Directing Award, AMERICAN TEEN chronicles five seniors at an Indiana high school, yielding a surprising snapshot of Midwestern life. The 2008 Sundance Institute at BAM runs May 29 through June 8, 2008 in Brooklyn.

Sundance Institute at BAM programs take place in various venues at BAM and features film screenings, theatre, musical performances, panel discussions, filmmaker Q&A sessions, screenplay readings, art installations and other events. The series presents 20 feature films and 36 short films and includes award-winning features and short films fresh from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. This unique event celebrates the artists and their work which the Sundance Institute has supported through the Film Festival and the Feature Film, Documentary Film, Theatre and Film Music Programs.

The entire 2008 Sundance Institute at BAM program announcement will be made in early April.

"We are excited to return to BAM this year with one of the most-talked-about films of our 2008 Festival," said John Cooper, Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival and Creative Director, Sundance Institute. "The absorbing true stories in AMERICAN TEEN rival the most inventive narrative plots, making the film one of those to which audiences immediately connect on a personal level and which also provokes exciting discussion and debate."

“We are thrilled to welcome Sundance Institute back to BAM for a third year of film, theatre, music and conversation " said Florence Almozini, Film Curator for BAMcinématek. "It is fitting to open our ten-day celebration with a film by Nanette Burstein who as a New Yorker, Sundance alum and independent filmmaker, in essence embodies everything this event represents."

In American Teen director Nanette Bernstein intimately follows the lives of five teenagers in a small town in Indiana through their senior year of high school. Using cinema vérité footage, interviews, and animation, she presents a vivid portrait of being 17 and all that goes with it. The film goes beyond the stereotypes of high school--the nerd and the jock, the homecoming queen and the arty misfit-- to capture

- more - the complexity of young people trying to make their way into adulthood. Burstein spent the entire 2005- 2006 school year immersed in the lives of her subjects, shooting 1,000 hours of footage for her film. AMERICAN TEEN made its world premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival to wide critical and audience acclaim. Paramount Vantage will release the film on July 25, 2008.

“As a filmmaker, it is an incredible privilege to have my film shown at Sundance Institute at BAM . As a New Yorker, it is the perfect setting," Burstein said.

Burstein co-directed two previous Sundance films with Brett Morgen. THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002 and went on to critical and commercial success. ON THE ROPES, the riveting story of three young boxers and their determined coach, received a Sundance Special Jury Prize in 2000 and went on to receive a host of other accolades including the prize for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary by the Directors Guild of America and a nomination for an Academy Award.

About Sundance Institute Dedicated year-round to the development of artists of independent vision and to the exhibition of their new work, Sundance Institute was founded by Robert Redford in 1981. The Institute has grown into an internationally recognized resource for thousands of independent artists through its Film Festival and artistic development programs for filmmakers, screenwriters, composers, playwrights and theatre artists. The original values of independence, creative risk-taking and discovery continue to define and guide the work of Sundance Institute, both with US artists and, increasingly, with artists from other regions of the world.

About BAM Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is recognized internationally for its innovative programming of dance, music, theater, music-theater, opera, and film. BAM presents leading national and international artists and companies in its annual Spring Season and highlights groundbreaking, contemporary work in the performing arts with its Next Wave Festival each fall. Founded in 1983, the Next Wave is one of the world's most important festivals of contemporary performing arts. BAM Rose Cinemas features new, independent film releases and BAMcinématek—a curated, daily repertory film program.

BAM also serves New York City's diverse population through a weekend concert series in BAMcafé, community events, literary series, and a wide variety of educational programs. BAM, America's oldest performing arts center in continuous operation, has presented performances since 1861, and attracts an audience of 500,000 people each year. The institution is led by President Karen Brooks Hopkins and Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo—each of whom has been associated with BAM for more than 20 years. # # #

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